London Fog

I basically drink only 3 different things, black coffee, tea, and water. Rarely will you find me doing anything fancy with any of those beverages, and when I say fancy, I mean like adding extra flavor or sweetners or anything that involves an extra step besides drinking the water, brewing the coffee, or steeping the tea bag. What can I say, I am a simple drink gal. So this drink is a little out of the norm for me but you know what, it is my new favorite afternoon drink, especially on these cool damp spring days when I really need the warmth and a little coziness. Perfect for curling up on the couch with a blanket and good book and listening to the rain fall.

Ok so what exactly is a Lonfdon fog? Well it is bacsilly just milky early grey tea or what some call a earl grey latte. And yeah I know, I do not need to tell anyone my discovery of the goodness of a mug of milky tea but there is one little ingredient that changed it from a simple “ yeah whatever duh “ to a cup of something special. .It is the tiny splash of vanilla extract. It adds another depth of flavor that I have not experience before with tea and just makes it so very delicious. I am kind of obsessed with it at the moment.

So if you are like me and want or need a little tea inspiration, well here it is. A little something fancy, or at least fancier then plain black tea.

To the tea!

The stuff. An earl grey tea bag (decaf if you want), plant milk, vanilla extract, and sweetener of your choice.

First step is to brew tea which I really think you all know how to do so do that.

And add the sweetener if using now.

Add the vanilla to the milk. If you want a slight froth, shake it up in a jar for a minute. For a more pronounced foam, you can use a milk frother if you have one or a hand blender. (Hand blender works great to create a good foam.)

And then you pour in the milk, (scoop foam if you made some) and thats that.

Drink your hot tea. Enjoy the spring weather!

-C

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London Fog

makes one drink

• 1 earl grey tea bag (or a serving of your favorite loose leaf)

• 1/4 teaspoon good quality vanilla extract

• 1 teaspoon (more or less to taste) maple or honey or any sweetener you like

• 8-10 oz boiling water

• 1/4-1/2 cup milk of choice

Place tea bag into your favorite mug and pour in boiling water. Let tea steep for 3-4 minutes. Remove tea bag if you want or for a stronger cup leave the tea bag in. Mix in sweetener if using.

Place milk and vanilla in a jar and shake for a minutes or two until you get a decent amount of foam. If the milk is foamy but with big bubbles, tap the bottom of the jar on the counter a few times and the bubbles will condense. If you have a hand blender or frother you can use those for more pronounced foam.

Once you have you frothy milk pour it into the tea. Scoop foam on top.

Drink.

Coffee Oat Frappuccino

This stupid freaking hot humid heat, it makes me hate everything (of at least very strongly dislike). I don’t know how to deal but I am trying. One thing I am doing is to just eat and drink everything cold.

Now I am not typically a cold coffee drinker (I love ice coffee but find that whenever I drink it I can’t pace myself and if is gone in like 2 seconds. I need more time, like at least 2 minute with my coffee. So I always go hot. What I should do is drink a hot and and iced at the same time but that is just crazy talk. And I have done that.), but this coffee thing I made is making me want to drink all the coffee frozen. It’s coffee which is my life blood, creamy but not like thick and gross, and cold, which right now is a life necessity. A real damn treat especially when just looking outside makes me want to smack the sun. Shit do I hate this nasty weather but what I don’t hate is this coffee, in fact I am obsessed with It and it’s all I want to eat/drink for the rest of the heatwave.

Now to the cold coffee oat frappuccino!

The stuff. Strong brewed cold coffee, oats, ice, and a couple really soft sticky dates.

Start with the oats in the blender ans blend until a flour consistency. Add in the dates (use whatever sweetener you want) and half the ice and half the coffee. Blend until frothy. Add in the rest of coffee and ice and blend for like 30 more seconds.

Its now blended and icy and delicious and you can drink it now but. If you can do it, stick the whole blender in the freezer or pour the frap into a cup and stick in freezer for an hour or so because it can get even icy-er.

Pull the blender out (or pour slightly more frozen frap back into blender) and blend for another 30 seconds. It is now super icy deliciousness.

Pour into glasses and drink. It’s to only thing you need to drink/eat for the rest of the summer.

-C

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Coffee Oat Frappuccino

makes 1

• 12 oz of brewed coffee (cold or even frozen)

• 12-14 normal sized ice cubes

• 1/3 cup old fashion oats

• Sweetener of choice like 2-3 soft dates , a couple teaspoon of maple syrup, or sugar

Place oats into blender and blend until flour consistency. Add in sweetener or dates and like half the coffee and half the ice cubes. Blend until mixed. Add the rest of coffee and ice and blend until completely incorporated.

Now either drink it as is (which is delicious) or for an even more icy consistency, place the blender (or pour the frap into a large cup) into the freezer for an hour of so. Then take it back out and and blend until a smooth frozen treat.

And then drink that right away.

Strawberry Oat Milk

One of the most redeeming qualities of summer is the fresh, super sweet, strawberries that grow in the early part of the season. Bright red little gems that I go and hand pick from a strawberry field (early in the morning because who wants to be in a beating hot field in he middle or the day?), eating one berry for ever two I pick. Hands stained red. Belly full of berry happiness. It’s times like these that I am glad for summer.

And now that I have strawberries, I can make strawberry milk. Have you ever had it? This strawberry milk is nothing like the milk made from the nasty and crazy sweet fake pink syrup (strawberry syrup reminds me of my little brothers when they were little. They would drink cups and cup of the fake strawberry milk and I always thought that they were gross. But not just because of the milk…hehe). No this strawberry milk is oat milk with fresh strawberries and taste just like a berry explosion of goodness in your mouth. Its smooth and creamy and tastes like real strawberry, like it should.

A true summer treat. And it is so easy to make, almost as easy as squirting syrup into a cup.

Now to the strawberry oat milk!

The struff. Strawberries, oats, and water.

Only thing you really need to do is remove the greens from the berries.

Then pop them into a blender with water and oats and blend until smooth and creamy. That is it. Now you have strawberry oat milk.

Pour into glasses, garnish with a few berries (or a bowl to snack from) and that is that.

Summer milk.

-C

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Strawberry Oat Milk

• 3/4 cup old fashion oats

• 2 1/2 cups cold water

• 1 cup fresh strawberries

• 1 tablespoon sweetener or a couple dates (optional to add sweetness)

Note. For a thicker and creamer milk just add another 1/4 of oats.

Remove greens from strawberries and toss them into a blender with the oats and water and any sweetener (if using). Blend until smooth.

Optional. Pour through a strainer or nut milk bag to remove any grittiness. I do not do this.

Pour into glasses and enjoy.. I like to add an ice cube or a cut up frozen strawberry into the milk to make it really cold.

Milk can be stored in a jar in fridge for 2-3 days.

Winter Spiced Coffee

Coffee. Do you drink coffee? I know there are some people out there that don’t, and that is ok, but me, I drink coffee… A lot of coffee. It is a joke between me and the mr that we get excited to go to bed just because we know that when we wake up we will have coffee. More truth then joke. Coffee makes me happy.

This winter spiced coffee is a little something that I concocted a month or so ago. Not something I drink a lot, but ever once in a while, a nice spicy coffee drink is just what is needed. Especially after a nice long morning of playing out in the snow (or shoveling) and coming back inside sore and tried but fresh and feeling all the good winter feels. Just a little spicy kick to really get you in the winter mood.

I drink my coffee black and un-sweeten but I have made this for one of the sisters with milk and maple and she said it tastes better then any Starbucks crap you could spend a paycheck on. So there is that. And for those of you who do not drink coffee, well you can add some of these spiced to black tea too. Just as good!

Enjoy your coffee (or tea!)

The spices. Cardamom, ginger, and cinnamon.

Ground coffee and a pinch of the spice mixture is all you need. Oh, well, hot water too.

Steeped and ready to drink.

A nice spiced coffee situation.

-C

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Winter Spiced Coffee

makes two cups

For the spice mix

• 1/2 teaspoon ground ginger

• 1/2 teaspoon ground cinnamon

• 1/3 teaspoon ground cardamom

Make coffee

• 4 heaping tablespoons ground coffee (any non flavored but a good medium roast is nice)

• 16-18 oz hot water between 195-205 degrees or boiled then let to sit for a couple minutes. (And use the lesser water for stronger coffee)

And if you want

• sweeter of choice to taste

• Milk of some sort to taste

Mix all the spices together in a small jar or bowl. Add about 1/3 teaspoon of spice mixture to the ground coffee (save the rest of the spice mixture for later use) and place in a large jar of coffee carafe.. Pour the hot water over and let steep for 4-6 minutes. Pour through strainer into cups. You can also make this coffee in a french press of regular coffee maker.

Add sweetener and or milk if you want. Drink.

Summer Strawberry Sparkling Lemonade

You know that taste, that taste of when you bite into something and it just takes you to a certain time and gives you that certain feeling? Freshly picked strawberries. They always give me all the warm feels and plaster a big smile on my face, especially when I am munching while picking. In those moments, nothing else matters except eating as many as possible and savoring every fresh burst of goodness that fills my mouth. It is exactly what summer tastes like.

A couple of days ago I went and did a little strawberry picking and brought home a bounty of greatness. I ate half, froze a few, and made this fresh lemonade situation because what is better then a glass of cold ass lemonade in the middle of a freaking hot summer day? Strawberry lemonade is, sparkling strawberry lemonade.

It is everything summer should be.

I knew how perfectly perfect this summer drink was when the mr had his drink in hand, took a sip, and said that it tasted like when he was a kid and would spend his days hunting for, picking, and eating the most delicious wild strawberries. I proceeded to laugh a little, thinking to myself, “well what a fancy dreamy childhood you had.” HA. But really though, that right there is truth my friends. Fresh strawberries are little gems of summertime happiness.

Now to the summer strawberry sprakinling lemonade!

The stuff. Freshly picked strawberries, a couple lemons, and plain seltzer water.

Easy as can be. Juice lemons until you have 1/2 cup juice. Remove stems from strawberries and add to lemon juice, then either with a stick blender or regular one, blend until smooth.

I didn’t add any sweetener to mine because we don’t like super sweet and the berries are way sweet enough for us. But if you want, add a little sweetener of your choice and blend in. Go easy though, maybe a couple teaspoons. You can always add more if you need too.

Basically all you do now is pour a bit of puree into a cup, add an ice cube, slowly pour seltzer in, and give it a little stir.

Garnish with a lemon wedge and a cute little strawberry and enjoy the taste of summer.

-C

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Summer Strawberry Sparkling Lemonade

makes 2-3 drinks

• 1-2 lemons (1/2 cup freshly squeezed lemon juice)

• 1/2 a pint ( or about 12 small to medium strawberries) fresh strawberries

• plain seltzer, mineral water, or club soda

• a few teaspoons of liquid sweetener of your choice if using

• ice

Juice lemons until you have 1/2 a cup off juice. Place in a jar or blender. Remove stems from strawberries and add to the lemon juice. Either with a hand blender or a regular blender, blend until completely smooth. If you are using any sweetener, you can add a little in now and blend in.

For drinks. Pour the strawberry lemon puree into 2-3 cups. Add an ice cube or two and slowly add about a cup of seltzer to each drink (you can add more of less seltzer to your liking). Gently mix with a spoon. Garnish with lemon and a sweet little strawberry if you like.